By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Rand Water says that it will implement stage 2 water restrictions on high water consumers as its reservoirs come under pressure.
In a notice to customers this week, the group said that over the last two weeks, water consumption has increased so significantly that overall storage capacity has declined from 58% to 38%.
“This has necessitated that Rand Water implements, with immediate effect, stage 2 restrictions on several high consuming customer meters within each municipality, in order to reduce the high consumption.”
Stage 2 restrictions see a reduction of 30% of the water supply for Rand Water. Municipalities implement their own requirements to cut down on usage, such as banning the watering of gardens or cleaning of driveways and patios with hosepipes.
The utility said that the restrictions will help it ensure that reservoir capacity is restored to 60%.
Implementation will occur across five major systems:
- Eikenhof
- Palmiet
- Mapleton
- Zwartkojes
- Veereeniging, Vanderbijlpark, Sasolburg (VVS)
The three biggest metros in the province – City of Joburg, City of Tshwane and City of Ekurhuleni will also be impacted.
Affected meters will be notified by their respective municipalities, indicating the targeted reduced flow rate required. The restrictions will remain in place and monitored every two weeks and adjusted where necessary, the group said.
The utility urged all customers to reduce water consumption and to only use water for basic essentials to prevent further stages of restrictions in more areas.
Following burst pipes and other outages due to load shedding this week, Joburg water reservoirs are also under pressure.
Various reservoirs and towers in the city are now low to empty due to the reductions from Rand Water as well as heightened demand, the city said.
It said that supply at the Commando Road meter, Central, Sandton, Roodepoort and Soweto systems are being monitored.